Know any good books? Pv George Henry

Chilly days lead to crowding in the warmer areas of the school. The Hufflepuff common room was no doubt packed full of other first-years, like sardines, wrapping each other up in blankets and piling up to conserve warmth like penguins or some other kind of adorable prey animals. Although it was chillier, the library was a much more pleasant place to be. George was usually not such a bookworm. Something about magic just made books about it all the more interesting. He'd even thought about writing a book to join the ones on the shelves - some kind of beginner's guide to Hogwarts. Hogwarts for Dummies, maybe? He'd have to check out a book on wizarding copyright law if he wanted to write something like that.

George selected a voluminous tome on the subject of medical magic, particularly the study of vampirism. While he normally took out books that had a more societal view on the subject matter, he figured that a scientific sort of text would give him a better basis to evaluate the arguments in other books. As well, these sort of practical books were chock full of gnarly pictures of vampire teeth and stuff like that. The pictures were more memorable than most of the words, really.

On his journey back to a table, he turned just in time to witness Henry tripping over a book and sending a tower of books flying over the floor of the library. George couldn't help but violate the rule of silence in the library as he burst out into laughter, walking over with his own book in hand to help the other boy gather his things. "That was a graceful move," George praised, kneeling down to help the fellow gather his things.

George didn't notice as he slipped his own book into the pile of Henry's books, though once he realized, he figured that it was fine. He had done the boy a big favour by gathering his things up for him - the least he could do in return was carry a book. "You going to a table? What are you studying for with all that? The important exams aren't for another four years."

George had laughed, of course. It was funny! He couldn't be blamed for laughing at things that were funny, because that was the whole point of those things. Even if they were at someone's expense, like poor Henry's tumble with the books. Laughter was a cruel necessity in such cases, and he would not deprive himself the pleasure of supplying it. "If it were odd to read and learn, you'd be in a school full of kooks," he said, pausing to ponder the truth of that statement as he walked to the nearest empty table, expecting Henry to trail behind him.

The young Hufflepuff seemed to invite himself to join in the study session, taking a seat across the table from Henry and sitting down - waiting patiently for the Slytherin to return his book and taking it graciously when it was offered. "That's right! I'm George Henry! I write for the Hogwarts Headliner," he informed the other boy, reaching up to adjust his collar. Needed to have the appearance to match the title - a certain aura of professionalism and mystique, betrayed by the fact that he was just some snot-nosed twelve year old who was far too into everybody's business for his own good.

"Do most Slytherin's care about blood status and things like that?" George wondered. He knew the answer, but it was more interesting to hear what people thought the truth was than to be content with what he believed it to be.

"From the sounds of things, you're really more of a Ravenclaw type. Always reading and being odd and things like that," he offered, leaning in across the table, elbows pressed into the cover of the book he'd checked out himself, creating subtle depressions over the eyes of a particular long-fanged vampire on the cover. "I am sort of that way too. In Hufflepuff, though. We're hard workers or something. I was hoping for Gryffindor, really."